Simpsons Discussion Group Fortnight II-Bart the Genius

Cafe Society
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First off, I realized I made a mistake in last fornight’s discussion of Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire. I had miscalculated the family’s cash flow. A gain of $13 followed by a loss of $13 would equal $0, not -$13. Sorry. Now, with that out of the way, let us discuss…

7G02 BART THE GENIUS
1/14/90 By John Vitti Director: David Silverman

First appearances: Mrs. Krabbapel, Martin Prince, Krusty the Klown (on a cereal box), Radioactive Man (on a comic book).

Delightful Dialogue:
Bart: My turn. Kwyjibo. K-W-Y-J-I-B-O. 22 points, plus Triple Word Score plus 50 points for using all my letters. Game’s over, I’m outta here.
Homer (grabbing Bart): Wait a minute, you little cheater! You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what a kwyjibo is.
Bart: Kwyjibo…uh…a big, dumb, balding North American ape with no chin.
Marge: And a short temper.
Homer: I’ll show YOU a big dumb balding ape!
Bart (running away from Homer): Uh-oh, kwyjibo on the loose!

Fox considers this the first episode of the series.

Here we first see the opening sequence. There are some differences from the one we all know and love: the clouds are different at the beginning, the colors are different, and two portions, Bart stealing a bus stop sign and Lisa on her bike, aren’t even in the opening anymore. The whole thing was redone for the second season.

The first gag, the kwyjibo, is funny. Partly because of Homer’s ape-like look chomping a banana, partly because “kwyjibo” is a funny word. (Actually, it’s the first major gag, and around the third overall, after Maggie spelling “EMCSQU” with her blocks and Homer looking puzzled at his Scrabble tiles: “O-X-I-D-I-Z-E.”)

A rare use of “frosty chocolate milkshakes,” a catchphrase from the Ullman days that was eventually dropped.

I like the way Homer and Bart are able to bond over Carmen, something they both dislike.

A clever little gag, after Bart’s explosion, the hamsters can be seen running away.

An interesting episode. Good story, and it makes sense and shows how troublesome Bart can be, and how it backfires for him. The animation is certainly better than that of the original “Some Enchanted Evening” (this episode was the second on the production block, and the first, “Some Enchanted Evening,” came back horribly). Of course, they were still experimenting, but it’s looking pretty good.

You know what to do. If you have access to the episode, look it over and comment on it.

Next time: Look for discussion of “Homer’s Odyssey” on or around September 3.

rdrr!

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If Bart switched papers with Martin, then Martin’s IQ is actually 216. (Not 912. Turn the card over) Why does nobody seem to care about this? Martin is still at Springfield Elementary, not at a school for geniuses like the one Bart was sent to immediately after it was found that his IQ was 216. And most importantly, why do I care about something this trivial?

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Can’t answer your second question, but as to the first – because Principal Skinner wants to keep Martin around as a snitch? :wink:

I like this ep, though, not least because when I was a kid I went to a school not dissimilar to the genius school Bart goes to (it billed itself as a school for the gifted, though it stopped doing that when I was in junior high).

The Carmen sequence is a lot of fun (why would they be singing it in Russian? :eek: ;)) though I know that all night I’ll be singing “No, Theodoro, don’t spit on the floor” since this thread reminded me of it. :stuck_out_tongue:

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One particular moment of note: when Bart gets caught spray-painting, Martin says “You could say you caught him red-handed, sir.”

I really wanted to punch him after that.

I also got upset when the prodigy school teacher mentions that the comic book was at there because of a project on illiteracy the kids covered. Personally, I learned to read almost entirely from comics, so it upset me that someone would have such a dismissive attitude from them. (Of course, it also occurs to me that the Simpsons stereotypes behavior, so the fact that someone would take such a flippant attitude towards them is believable on a TV show.)

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I’ve always liked the line given the caring, sharing, “enriched” teacher: “Discover your desks, people!”

I often quote this to co-workers sotto voce when plagued by touchy-feelyism during workshops.

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Martin’s " ‘W-E-I-N-E-R’ is an acceptable ethnic variant," is pretty good, as is Homer’s reaction to the graffiti. (A similar graffiti shows up later, in “Principal Charming,” with Skinner saying, “I’m Still A Weiner!”) Even better is Skinner’s take upon comparing Homer’s check to one of Bart’s “forged” excuse notes. Very subtle.

The pacing on this episode, at least at the beginning, was really quick. I think the animators were still thinking in the mindframe of doing the shorts, and 22 minutes was such a long time to fill. Still, there were some great moments, such as Dr. Pryor’s measuring Bart’s head with the calipers, and his telling him, quite nonplussed, “You misspelled ‘confession’.”

Bart’s daydream about numbers was a great piece of animation, also, although there’s a bit of a continuity error right afterwards. Martin makes faces at Bart from outside, but in Season 2, in “Bart Gets an ‘F’,” Bart is shown teaching Martin how to make ugly faces. Seems to me Martin already had some skill in that area!

My favorite moment: “Hello, little control hamster!” “I wouldn’t get too attached – we’re dissecting him next week.”